Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Pharrell Puts Miami Penthouse On Market

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: A little canary down in South Beach flew by the other day and let Your Mama know that uni-named Grammy-winning songwriter/producer/rapper, art collector, entrepreneur and sartorial daredevil Pharrell has hoisted his titanic tri-level penthouse condo in Miami, FL on the market with a sky-high asking price of $16,800,000.

Property records show Mister Pharrell picked up the penthouse in March 2007 for $12,525,000 from a well-known property developer and it wasn't long before he was involved in an ugly legal imbroglio over numerous water leaks that came, according to at least one online report, from "at least six sources in the home, such as the penthouse pool, plant watering system, and Jacuzzi."

In December 2010 Mister Pharrell had the art-filled aerie photographed for The Selby—if you don't know The Selby, then you should—and in July 2011 he had dextrous design writer and international style maven Mayer Rus all up in there to do a piece for W Magazine. Based on the lush photographs from both of those shoots it seems that Mister Pharrell may (or may not) have moved out much of his personal belongings, in particular his Ms. Pac Man and Galaga video game consoles, his colossal collection of sneakers and his impressive contemporary art collection that includes significant works by name-brand artists such as Takashi Murakami, Keith Haring, KAWS, and Andy Warhol.

The capacious main floor living/dining room has chestnut colored wood floors, a curving ribbon of nearly floor to ceiling glass with terrace access and panoramic water views, a built-in buffet in the dining area and a built-in entertainment center in the living area with a massive flat screen television. A floating staircase connects the main floor to the second floor landing where a gravity defying spiral staircase corkscrews up to a third floor lounge underneath a spectacular and downright Herculean frosted glass dome that defines the triple height space and for some reason isn't shown in any of the listing photographs we dug up online.

Listing photographs do show the penthouse is luxuriously equipped with a sleek center island kitchen, a six (or maybe nine) seat home theater with plush red leather recliners and paneled walls, a billiard room on the second level mezzanine and library/lounge with built-in bookcases and a smattering of multi-colored modern furniture including the naughty-naughty Perspective chair, designed several years ago by Mister Pharrell in conjunction with the French product manufacturing concernDomeau + Pérès. The chair, in case any of y'all aren't familiar, has human-shaped legs. The front legs are those a woman on her tippy toes and the back legs those of a flat-footed man. Mister Pharrell says the chair "represents the love between a man and a woman" but Your Mama—like most people—see the chair as a not very abstract depiction of the couple doing it doggy style.

Anyhoo, the master suite has a bedroom with watery view and direct terrace access, a big bathroom slathered in inlaid marble and what Mister Rus in W Magazine called a "steroidal closet...filled with a teenager's fantasy trove of Technicolor sneakers."

Three levels of vast terraces offer unparalleled all-around views, an outdoor summer kitchen, miles of tiled planter boxes, a spa and a plunge-sized swimming pool beneath a muscular, vine-draped pergola.

steroidal closet is filled with a teenager’s fan­tasy trove of
Technicolor sneakers

Property records show Mister Pharrell—recently engaged to his long-time lady friend and baby momma Helen Lasichanh with whom he has young son named Rocket Mann Williams—still owns the 9,116 square foot waterfront mansion in his hometown of Virginia Beach, VA that he bought way back in December 2001 for $1,850,000.

We really have no idea what real estate plans Mister Pharrell may have up his sleeve but in the W Magazine article he mentioned that his residential real estate fantasies include maverick architect Frank Gehry designing him a "Wyne Manor-style mansion" and avant garde architect Zaha Hadid doing him a domicile "that is partially submerged in the ocean." So there's that...

That pool is straight up ghetto. It looks like an above ground you would see in someone's yard In Long Island. I've seen apartments down there for cheaper with in ground pools that go below into the apt.

Oh lordy I was excited from the outside shots then my eye balls hurt from the pedestrian interiors.. oh my oh my... good luck with this price #smokingcrackpipedreams if he thinks this will sell for this amount of monies! Oh Lordy Mama!

The idea that rich people leave places because of high taxes is a myth that lives on simply because so many people believe it without any solid info. Supposedly the French are fleeing France due to the rise in taxes, but in fact they are not. Ditto other places. Top tax rate in the US during the Truman and Eisenhower years and into the Kennedy ones was 90% but rich people didn't leave. Rich use it however to try to scare politicians into submission on the topic. The reason to slap a hefty tax on houses is that they can't pick up and leave even if they wanted to. So let the owners leave if they find that a smart thing to do. Most won't.

4:56 Your are a riot. Everything is fine. France is great..Greece is great Nothing is wrong... drink the cool aid. Are you for real?? The tax base in the US is shrinking. The economy is going to go over a cliff, and then an avalanche. Get a new mantra dear...your slap hefty tax on the rich postings are getting old. The well is dry. Time is very short honey.